I Cannot Be Your Shadow Puppet

Busy Interns

Dr Mia Singh (Mia)

She was running late for the Out Patient Department, OPD, where she was to check her patients.

It was 9 am already, and she was still in her room trying to get herself washed up and ready for the 5 hours of gruelling work that lay ahead of her.

She had been up all night delivering a baby for a first- time mother. After keeping the poor primae waiting for over twenty four hours, the baby had arrived into the world in the wee hours of the morning, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

It had been a harrowing time working with the paediatrician and the gynaecologist making sure that the mum and the baby were stable.

By the time Mia returned to her quarters it was already eight. Her roomie and friend, Jenny, was ready to leave.

Good for me! Jenny is doing the morning rounds today! Mia thanked her stars.

She said bye to Jenny and got going with her morning chores. She had to get back to the hospital ASAP.

Skipping her breakfast, she grabbed a coffee and some almonds, put on a sky blue blouse, kurti, over her white jeggings, sprayed her favourite Davidoff Cool Water liberally, put on her apron and dashed off to the hospital at record speed.

Her waist-length long dark brown hair was tied in a loose braid. That was the best way to manage her messy curls! She had put on just a hint of light pink lipstick and done up her dark brown eyes with kohl, eyeliner and mascara.

This was her usual hospital- time make-up, and she was really quick at getting that done and out of the way. She didn’t like her eyes looking tired and haggard.

She was an overworked intern, but that wasn’t an excuse for a lousy appearance and incompetency at work. Thankfully, her room was just a ten- minute walk from the hospital. She reached a few mins late. The other interns had already started checking the patients, so she sat down at her desk and began her day.

The OPD would continue till late afternoon and between the 3 interns, they would be checking at least 150 to 200 patients. Only the patients who needed expert opinions would be sent over to the specialists. They would be prescribing both modern and Ayurvedic medicines which would be dispensed from the hospital pharmacy.

They weren't registered Doctors yet as they were waiting to complete their internship, but their provisional registrations allowed them to prescribe while they were interning at a hospital.

She looked forward to her internship being over in another six months and then she would get registered at the state medical council. Till the time they were here at the hospital, they were meant to prescribe medicines, assist in minor surgeries, do the patient rounds, manage emergencies, deliver babies and do every other thing that the attending doctors and the nurses could push over to them. This clinical practice and experience were supposed to equip them for their future.

Yes, they were overworked, but she loved her work. She could have chosen any government-run hospital in Pune city, her hometown, but she chose this godforsaken village instead because the experience you get in a village hospital is a lot more than what you could expect in a city. She never regretted her decision. This village was only a three- hour train ride away from Pune and whenever she got a day off, she could visit her parents in Pune.

The patients continued to come through relentlessly and she could finish only by 2.30 in the afternoon. The registration counters outside would have stopped taking in patients at least an hour back, but the steady flow of patients continued.

Finally, when there wasn't anyone waiting outside the old- fashioned swing doors, the interns closed the OPD.

She was exhausted and hungry, mostly exhausted!

She and Jenny returned to their room and put a sandwich together using some local white bread slices and slapped in some processed cheese slices between them. Not very healthy, but it would have to do. It was the quickest thing they could make in a kitchen which was devoid of any electronic equipment. They had neither a fridge nor a microwave.

Just as they were about to begin their frugal meal, the doorbell rang. After a playful argument to decide as to who would get up, Jenny won and Mia had to go and answer the door.

The ‘Doctor on call’ was at the door. This was quite surprising, as usually if they had to call an intern, they would send a peon or a clerk to call them over. They didn’t have an intercom.

Dr Dane apologised for disturbing them. She liked Dr Dane. He was the attending gynaecologist. Contrary to his colleagues, he was quite patient and soft- spoken with the patients. That wasn’t really the norm in the regional government hospitals.

Patients visited these facilities from low socioeconomic communities, just poor farmers from the surrounding remote villages, and most doctors treated them as sh*t. Dr Dane was a pleasant exception.

"Hi, Mia," Dane greeted Mia pleasantly. "Sorry to bother you two. I know you girls have been busy, but I wanted to come over and invite you before you crashed out. I am hosting a small party tonight, just a few friends from the city and doctors from our hospital. Would love to have you and Jenny over. Sai has offered to be at the hospital. Before you choose to refuse, I would like to add that we will be back in a couple of hours. It’s my birthday, please don’t say no." He finished in a single breath, looking please to have put it out there.

Sai was the third intern. He was from the same village and had worked hard to reach where he was today. A brilliant human with a warm heart.

Mia smiled, knowing that he must have offered to stay back so that Jenny and Mia could have some time off. They couldn’t all leave without leaving a single resident doctor at the hospital.

Although it was only a fifty- bed hospital, it was the only government hospital for the ten villages around that area.

Someone would have to be present at the premises.

The others wouldn’t be able to go too far either. Dr Dane was on call today. He, Mia and Jenny would need to be there within a few minutes in case of a medical emergency.

It was cute to see him so flustered. Dane kind of fancied Jenny. It had been a topic of discussion between her and Jenny for many nights now. She knew Jenny would not refuse. Jenny's black eyes would always light up and sparkle while talking about Dane!

"Ok Doc. I will check with Jenny and drop you a message. Hope that’s alright," she replied, trying to sound casual and professional at the same time.

"Of course. But please let me know as soon as possible. I will need to make a few arrangements," he tried to look past her and Mia controlled a chuckle. It looked like he desperately wanted to meet Jenny outside of work.

Obviously, he would want to interact with her in a relaxed environment, she assumed.

Jenny had beautiful black eyes and got a dimple on her left cheek when she smiled. Mia had seen how Dr Dane got distracted whenever Jenny smiled. She had to give the poor guy something.

"Don’t worry Doctor, I will reply ASAP, " she smiled.

He left after thanking her.

***